In U.S. Pat. No. 3,321,113 issued on May 23, 1967, to Charles R. Conry and entitled "Adjustable Controlled Volume Liquid Pouring Device," there is described and illustrated a measuring pourer for dispensing liquid from a bottle in a predetermined quantity for each pouring operation. As shown in FIGS. 2-4, the pourer 10 includes a first ball 38 slidably disposed within a pouring tube 14 and a first valve seat 37 disposed at the upper end of the pouring tube against which the first ball 38 is adapted to seat so as to prevent further passage of liquid from the pourer when it is disposed in the tilted pouring position. A liquid control opening 54 is formed within the sidewall of the pouring tube 14 adjacent its lower end for controlling the amount of liquid flowing from the pourer during each pouring operation.
A ball cage 46 is mounted upon the lower end of the pouring tube. A second ball 58 is loosely confined within the ball cage and is adapted to seat against a second valve seat 56 when the pourer is tilted to the pouring position so as to close off the lower end of the pouring tube 14 and leave only the control opening 54 in communication with the exterior of the first ball 38 and the lower end of the pouring tube. In operation, when the pourer 10 is tilted the first ball 38 begins to move from the lower end of the pouring tube 14 toward the valve seat 37 at the upper end thereof. Simultaneously, the second ball 58 within the ball cage 46 immediately moves its seating position against the valve seat 56. In this manner, the rapidity of movement of the first ball 38 through the pouring tube 14 is controlled by means of the size of the control opening 54. Thus, the amount of liquid dispensed during each tilting operation of the pourer is dependent upon the accurate size of the opening 54.
It has been generally known that the control opening 54 in this prior art pourer being visible in the sidewall of the pouring tube is susceptible to frequent tampering. In particular, many times a round object is forced into the control opening thus enlarging the same. As a result, the larger opening causes the first ball 38 to move quicker toward the seat 37 and less liquid is dispensed during each tilting operation of the pourer. Furthermore, another problem that has been encountered during the manufacturing of the prior art pourer is the difficulty of controlling the tolerance of the opening, which adversely affects its accuracy.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved shot dispenser which includes a tamper-proof bleed slot for accurately controlling the amount of liquid to be dispensed. The shot dispenser of the present invention is much easier and simpler to manufacture by injection molding since the bleed slot is less susceptible to damage than the prior art control opening. The present invention represents an improvement over the '113 patent discussed above.